Finally, after several moments of silence, Aric’s voice returned. “See you soon, Sly King.”

Chapter Forty-eight

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

The observatory of Cloudbreak was as impressive as Caledonia remembered. Perhaps even more so now that she could take the time to consider all it had to offer. The room sat atop the layered fortress like a cap. It had no walls, just four stone columns dressed in cerulean blue curtains that supported a domed roof gilded in luminescent paint. At each quarter, telescopes perched on sturdy tripods, and in the center of the room a fire burned inside a pit carved into the floor.

The last time she’d been here it had been under markedly different circumstances. She’d had a wealth of solar scales to trade, a bounty on her head, and the promise of finding her brother still shining before her. When Lir’s fleet closed in, Hesperus had come very close to trading Caledonia and her crew for the bounty. Instead, he’d given her the map she needed to escape through the canals.

“Any other time and I’d offer refreshment.” Hesperus settled himself on the eastern ledge, where he had a clear view of the ocean. “But with the Father on the way, I’m afraid I’ve run through my generosity.”

Caledonia was beginning to understand that Hesperus liked to complain, even when he’d been a willing partner in what ailed him. It was how he soothed his nerves.

“You’ve been generous enough, Hesperus.” Caledonia stood by the telescope, intermittently pressing her eye to the scope to survey the horizon.

They expected a swift response from Aric. Indeed, Caledonia was hoping for one. Anything else, and the colonies to the north would suffer immeasurably.

“Correct,” he snapped. “I have been more generous than I should have been, and now I will suffer for it.”

A week ago, his anger would have put her on the defensive. She would have worried that inciting anger in someone with as much power as Hesperus would create an enemy where there should have been an ally. Today, it paled in comparison to what was on its way meet her.

“You expected me to take the fight to him. To leave you here in relative safety while we assumed all the risk.”

Hesperus didn’t have to answer for Caledonia to find the truth in his face.

“I promise you, if that had been the best option, it’s what I would have done.” As Caledonia answered, she marveled at the authority in her own voice. “If the tides turn against us, I will do whatever I can to keep Cloudbreak safe. In return, I need you to do something for me.”

“Caledonia Styx, only you would ask me for more at a time like this.”